As a massage therapist, simply knowing how to massage and offering your services isn’t enough, especially if you are in business for yourself. Massage therapy is a business and should be treated as such. If you don’t market your practice to the public, how will they know you exist?
By learning how to market massage, as well as other business practices, in the privacy of your home or office through home study courses, massage therapists can easily implement these tools into practice.
In today’s current economic climate, many therapists are searching for cost-effective ways to increase business and productivity. An Internet search resulted in numerous home study courses any massage therapist can take to fulfill their continuing education requirements.
Some of the topics covered in such home study courses include massage therapy as a low-cost, health-care option, product sales, product integrity, expense cutting, ethical marketing practices, beneficial business habits, legal marketing restrictions and ethical representation of advertising. The courses cover a broad range of what massage therapists face in the business market and what is available to them to implement in their practices.
One of the emerging and low-cost ways of marketing yourself is through the Internet and social media. Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn, YouTube, Meetup.com and other social media outlets are simple ways for a massage therapist to network and promote their practice and personality. In these venues, therapists can network directly with existing customers and expand their resources through promotions on the different sites.
Other home study resources can teach you how to utilize these sites to your advantage. For instance, they can help you develop your online profile, help target your online contacts as prospective clients and how to avoid online business blunders.
Make sure to check with your national and state licensing bodies to make sure the courses you select are acceptable for continuing education credits.
–Jeremy Maready